6 August 2020
According to new expert analysis, the chances of contracting Covid-19 on a plane are actually quite low.
Arnold Barnett, a professor of management science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been running tests using a variety of variables including the odds of being seated near someone in the infectious stage of the disease, the odds that the protective masks will fail, and factoring in how the air is filtered and renewed on board the aircraft.
The outcome? Professor Barnett predicts that a person has a 1 in 4,300 probability of contracting Covid-19 on a two-hour flight – however, if airlines leave the middle seat empty the odds are halved to a 1 in 7,700 probability.
